Companies should have the option to pay for a “competitive edge” online, Qwest chief executive Richard Notebaert said Wednesday.

Notebaert’s comments at a Voice Over the Net conference in San Jose, Calif., come as the battle heats up between phone and Internet companies over “network neutrality.”

He said restricting Internet traffic is different from offering a higher price for Internet service to certain companies.

“Net neutrality really means that there should be no impediment to traffic,” said Notebaert, according to CNET News.com.

“Never has it been intended to mean that companies can’t reach commercial agreements with each other to enhance services,” the head of the Denver-based phone company said.

Lawmakers are developing federal rules to maintain so-called Internet neutrality. The issue has heated up as Internet-based companies such as Google and Amazon complain that they shouldn’t have to pay higher rates to get premium service.

There’s speculation that phone companies and other providers of high-speed Internet access are considering a two-tiered Internet, in which companies that rely on the Web for business would pay a higher price for the large amounts of Internet bandwidth they use, according to CNET News.

Notebaert said if online bookstore Amazon paid Qwest for a particular service, it would be like catalog company L.L. Bean paying Federal Express and UPS during the holiday season to offer free shipping to customers.